Tourism Ireland, Marketing the Island of Ireland Overseas

Dutch Journalists Discover Ireland by E-Car

09 Aug 2013

Two Dutch journalists have been touring Ireland this week, in their electric car. The pair write for NRC Next, a daily newspaper, and SALT, a magazine targeting environmentally-aware travellers, with a combined readership of almost 250,000 people – or potential visitors – across the Netherlands. They were invited here by Tourism Ireland, to experience and write about an e-car touring holiday in Ireland.

During their time here, they followed an itinerary devised by Fáilte Ireland which included Muckross House and Gardens and the Killarney National Park, as well as the Ring of Kerry; also The Ewe sculpture garden near Glengarriff, Garnish Island, as well as Bantry House and Gardens in West Cork. Their programme, which included suggested stops at re-charging points for their electric-powered Citroën, also included Co Waterford.

Tourism Ireland is actively promoting car touring and longer-stay holidays in the Netherlands and elsewhere around Mainland Europe. Finola O’Mahony, Tourism Ireland’s head of Europe, said: “We are delighted to welcome these Dutch journalists to Ireland. Touring in their e-car is a really great way for them to discover the island of Ireland. Fact-finding visits like this are very important; they are a really effective way for us to get positive exposure for Ireland through the media in the Netherlands, helping us to showcase the superb tourism product on offer to a wide audience of potential Dutch holidaymakers. Given that car touring visitors tend to stay longer, spend more and are more likely to visit more than one region, Tourism Ireland is actively promoting car touring and longer-stay holidays in the Netherlands.”

The Netherlands is an important market for tourism to the island of Ireland and the most recent figures from the CSO show that visitor numbers from the Benelux countries are up +11% for the first six months of 2013.

Notes to Editors:
• Tourism Ireland is the organisation responsible for promoting the island of Ireland overseas as a leading holiday destination.
• Tourism is the island of Ireland’s largest indigenous industry; responsible for in excess of 4% of GNP in the Republic of Ireland and employing approximately 200,000 people.
• In 2012, an estimated 7.27 million overseas visitors came to the island of Ireland, delivering revenue of approximately €3.51 billion. Overseas tourism business accounts for 59% of all tourism revenue.
• Tourism Ireland’s international website is www.ireland.com, currently rolling out in 11 different language versions for over 30 individual markets around the world.
• ‘The Gathering Ireland 2013’ is Ireland’s biggest ever tourism initiative, consisting of a year-long programme of festivals, events and gatherings in every part of the country; Tourism Ireland has an extensive programme of promotions under way to highlight ‘The Gathering Ireland 2013’ around the world, working closely with the ‘Gathering’ project team.